Highways to hell: Bay Area’s worst commutes ranked by MTC

1of 24The morning and evening commutes on Interstate 80 across the Bay Bridge were ranked the Bay Area’s worst, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

2of 24Interstate 80 remains the best at being the absolute worst, according to a new report on the Bay Area’s most dreadful commutes. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission on Wednesday released its annual analysis of weekday freeway congestion, and the report found that congestion is leveling off after four years of increasingly sluggish commutes. Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

3of 24Click through this slideshow for the cities where residents have the longest commutes. Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission on Wednesday released its annual analysis of weekday freeway congestion, and the report found that congestion is leveling off — but not improving — after four years of increasingly sluggish commutes.

“The good news is that the average Bay Area commute hasn’t gotten any worse,” said Jake Mackenzie, the commission’s chairman and a Rohnert Park councilman. “The bad news is it hasn’t gotten any better, either.”

Congestion remains at record-high levels, and easing it will require people to change the ways they get around and cities to build more housing closer to jobs, commissioners said.

Worst Bay Area trouble spots

Freeway locations with the largest average daily vehicle delays during weekday commute hours in 2017.

“We know the enemy and it is us,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a commission member, paraphrasing the 1970s comic strip Pogo. “And it’s time for us to work regionally to fix it.”

For the third consecutive year, I-80 eastbound in the evening — from Cesar Chavez Street to the Treasure Island Tunnel — holds the crown as the Bay Area’s worst commute, according to the report, which analyzed 2017 figures collected by traffic information service Inrix.

Second place also belongs to I-80, but the commute is an all-day slog in the opposite direction, starting in the morning and continuing through the evening all the way from Hercules to the Bay Bridge toll plaza; it’s the only stretch of Bay Area roadway where commuters don’t get a midday break.

The study ranked weekday commutes by hours of delay, or the difference between actual driving times and the time it would take if traffic were flowing freely.

The I-80 commutes, both constrained by the Bay Bridge and backing up for miles, have weekday delay totals that far outpace every other choke point.

On an average weekday, the homeward-bound backup causes 14,600 hours of delay, while the westbound drive to the bridge creates 12,650 hours of delay. By comparison, the third-worst backup, Highway 101 in the South Bay, induces 7,260 hours of delay.

Scott Haggerty, an Alameda County supervisor and MTC board member, said creative solutions are needed to ease the Bay Bridge backup, such as persuading drivers to get into express buses and carpools, and perhaps dedicating exclusive lanes to help these vehicles speed through traffic.

“We’re not going to be expanding the bridge,” Haggerty said. “So we need to look at (express) lanes, express buses, getting people into carpools.”

Liccardo, who also sits on the commission board, said reducing traffic congestion in the South Bay will require cities to add more housing units instead of simply focusing on job growth, and it might require regional incentives and penalties on cities.

“We need to get people living closer to where they work,” Liccardo said.

Rounding out the five lousiest commutes from 2017 are Highway 101 southbound in the afternoon from Fair Oaks Avenue to Oakland Road and 13th Street in Santa Clara County; Interstate 680 northbound in the evening from Scott Creek Road to Andrade Road in Alameda County; and Highway 4 eastbound in the evening from Morello Avenue to Port Chicago Highway in eastern Contra Costa County.

Two of the 10 most painful commutes, both in the East Bay, made big jumps.

The afternoon drive on Highway 4 in east Contra Costa County moved from 10th in 2016 to fifth last year, while the southbound afternoon drive on Interstate 880 between Union Street and 29th Avenue in Oakland climbed from 14th to seventh.

Michael Cabanatuan has covered all things transportation for the San Francisco Chronicle — from BART strikes, acrobatic bridge construction and dark dirty tunnel excavations to the surging ridership on public transportation and the increasing conflict as cars, bikes and pedestrians struggle to coexist on the streets. He’s ridden high-speed trains in Japan, walked in BART’s Transbay Tube and driven to King City at 55 mph to test fuel efficiency.

He joined The Chronicle as a suburban reporter and deputy bureau chief in Contra Costa County, and has also covered the general assignment beat. In addition to transportation, Michael covers a variety of Bay Area news, including breaking news events. He’s been tear-gassed covering demonstrations in Oakland and exposed to nude protesters in the Castro District. Michael is also a regular contributor to the City Insider column and blog.